Saturday, November 3, 2007

I would like to welcome our four new members this week. This brings our total of authors to 96 and growing weekly as our word gets out.

This has continued to be a productive week in working towards our goals of exposing Airleaf Publishing to others who have been defrauded and scammed as well as to other potential victims who will now walk away from Airleaf when they see our website. I am working diligently on a daily basis with the help of you, our authors and supporters, to uncover layer by layer the depth of the fraudulence of Airleaf and its partner, Lite Stone Entertainment. Please note each week I have our website updated with new stories. You can view them on http://www.airleafvictims.com/. Or http://airleafvictims.blogspot.com/ If you would like to help our cause and add your story to the rest of ours, please let me know and I will help you with this.

I spoke with Detective Buskirk this week. I have full confidence that he is piecing this case together and trying to understand the complexities of the criminal actions and intent of Airleaf. I spoke to Terry Tolliver from the Attorney General’s office on Monday to ask him for an update, but all he would say is that the case is under investigation. I was very disappointed when one of our group members sent me the following link to a case that was settled by the Attorney General’s office back in May 2007 for two authors who had their money returned. Here is the link to that information: http://atgindsha01.atg.in.gov/cpd/docs/enforcement/SteveCarter-397144-1.pdf

This shows that Airleaf had already been under investigation but allowed to continue operating. Next week, I will have more information on the Indiana Attorney General’s office and their response thanks to one of our authors who has been investigating this.

Some of you have sent me copies of letters this week that you sent to the Airleaf attorney, Dennis Schell, to dispute his allegations that Airleaf is being “defamed.” I appreciate your doing this because Mr. Schell needs to know that he is defending a crooked man who has stolen your books, money, hopes, and dreams allowing so many of us to suffer the indignities of feeling like fools. Although Airleaf is trying to stop us, we will not be bullied or intimidated by their threats. If you haven’t had a chance to write to Mr. Schell, please let him know your experience by sending him a note at this email:dschell@overhauser.com

I was very appreciative that Writer’s Weekly, a publication that is highly respected by authors world-wide, published a link to our website. You can view this with the following link. Thank you, Angela, for the support you are giving our group in getting the word out.

There are other writer’s blogs and publications where you can post your comments. I will share them with you each week so you can keep spreading the word.

Now I will share some very interesting information about Airleaf and Lite Stone Entertainment.

As you all know, Airleaf tries to defraud authors by pretending they are working with movie producers Lite Stone Entertainment in California. Here is a link to the Lite Stone site which appears on the front page of the Airleaf website. When the movie trailer for Jessie’s Girl first appeared on the Airleaf website, there was a name on the bottom that said “Biancoscott.” I went to their site at http://www.biancoscott.com/ and took the opportunity to write to Mr. Eric Scott, the president of the company. Unlike Lite Stone that has no email address on their website so you can’t contact them by email, Mr. Scott has a real company. I sent him this letter:

Dear Mr. Scott,I would appreciate your insight into an investigation of fraud on behalf of Airleaf Publishers in Martinsville, Indiana. You can see our website at www.AirleafVictims.com. or http://airleafvictims.blogspot.com/ I am happy to provide you with any information you may be interested in. I'm trying to see what the tie in is with you and Lite Stone Entertainment which is also part of the Airleaf fraudulence. In the trailer Jessie's Girl, your company's name appeared on the bottom of the trailer up until recently. Can you tell me about your connection with this?I greatly appreciate it.

Airleaf is currently under investigation in Indiana by the police and Attorney General's office. I'm working to piece all of the links together. You may be totally innocent and not involved with all with this; however, since your trailer appears on their website, I felt compelled to ask.Thanks for your help.

Best regards,Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.

Here was his response:

Dear Bonnie Kaye,

We did make the trailer "Jessie's Girl" for a company calledLite Stone Entertainment in Feb/2007 with a very low budget andset up a website for them with the promise of much businessto come. We have not heard from them since then and have shutdown the website. That is basically the extent of our associationwith them. We have never heard of Airleaf Publishers.Best,Eric Scott

Does this surprise me? No, not at all. It goes to prove that Lite Stone Entertainment has no intention of producing movies.They are a scam tied in with Airleaf Publishing. So I took some time to investigate the authors that appear on Airleaf’s webpage of “Books To Film” and found the book Postal Blues listed there by author Vincent Alexandria. This book is also listed on the Lite Stone site. I sent Mr. Alexandria the following letter on Sunday, October 28, 2007:

This is author Vincent Alexandria. I have never given any money to Carl Lau. I did however give him permission to shop my book for film. We got a bite from Lite Stone Entertainment, and I signed a release for him to represent the book. We got a $50,000 offer for the option or that was what I signed and was told. Airleaf was to get $10,000 for representation fees and I was to get $40,000. That was six months ago and nothing has materialized. Carl has taken all of my phone calls and yes, there have been excuses and stories, but I am in a position that if the film does materialize I have documentation and a case to file against not only him, but the film company as well. I am not condemning Carl, because so far he has not done anything to me, but I try to give a person a fair deal.Vincent

After speaking to Mr. Alexandria on the phone and telling him how he has been used to help dupe other authors into paying large sums of money for promotional services, he sent out this letter to Airleaf:

Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:00:25 -0700 (PDT)Subject: Is this the reason I have not received the $40,000?

Carl,

It has been six months since I signed the letter of intent for you to represent me and my book, Postal Blues and I have not received on cent of that. I received this email today and find it really disturbing. Can you please explain this? At this point and the lack there of in any movement on my book for film, please stop any negotiations and cease and assist in representing me. October 30, 2007. I will take legal action if not paid and the film comes to fruition. I hope these things work out for you. I trusted in you like these other folks. I hope this is not true and I'm not judging you, but praying for this to be resolved. I am in hopes that you have not swindled me for my book to film and keep the money for yourself. If so, I like the others will pursue this issue to the highest extent of the law.

Vincent

We thank Mr. Alexandria for taking this step to STOP THE FRAUDULENCE. Even though he didn’t pay any money, he didn’t receive any as he was promised. And he was being used to lure in new victims.

What I find very interesting about Lite Stone is this: If you click into this link, you can pull up their website. Here is the link:litestoneentertainment

On the first page, it has a list of “Books to Film.” There you will find the same books as Airleaf lists on its Books to Films page, including Mr. Alexandria’s book. These books are floating by at the bottom line. Then, if you hit into the bar that says “Films,” you will find something very interesting. On the bottom of the page, you will see four books that are staying there when they state, “View Trailer.” The four books are Jessie’s Girl, The Touch, No Rules, and She’s the One. We already know the story with Jessie’s Girl; we know that The Touch was a movie made in 2002. When I looked up “No Rules,” I found out that this was a movie released in 2005 that stars Tom Sizemore. I couldn’t understand how Lite Stone was promoting a movie with a star who was so reputable. That’s when I went to Tom Sizemore’s page on IMDb and viewed his 74 films including one of my favorites, Heart and Souls. The movie also stars Gary Busey and David Dunn. Then I looked up the writer of the film, and it is a man named Gerry Anderson. He also directed the film. Mr. Anderson lives in London, England. Since this movie was released in 2005 by a company called Mpire Films, it goes to show once again that this has nothing to do with taking a book and turning it into a film by Life Stone.

Now, if you look at that webpage of “View Trailer,” you will see the Airleaf authors’ books passing in back of the four stationary books. You can’t view the trailer for them because there are no trailers. This is a clever bit of treachery that I will be reporting on Monday to the California Attorney General’s Office.

This week, three of our authors reported back to me that they demanded that Airleaf remove their books from the Airleaf website. I asked my friend Ken Pullen if I could reprint his letter to give you an idea of what to say, and he said he’d be glad to share:

November 2, 2007

To Bob Denton:

I know you have an inventory of my books on hand. I paid for them. They are my property not yours or Airleaf's to sell for profit - of which I'll never see so much as a dime of since Airleaf doesn't pay their so-called authors and is nothing more than a shell, a con to prey on people and take money from them.

So I want any and all copies of my book Rescue Me sent to me immediately. At Airleaf's expense since you've stolen thousands from me and never done what you've claimed, and never paid me.

I also want all reference to me or my book Rescue Me removed from your website, and all websites Airleaf or anyone working currently for Airleaf has established, such as the Airleaf Elite books, etc.

You will no longer profit from me, or to give the appearance of being a legitimate business and thus BAIT unsuspecting people into thinking you're a legitimate business.

Maybe we can put you out of business if more of us demand removal from your scam website and your continuing cons. Maybe we can lessen the "Bait" you all use to give yourselves an air of legitimacy even though you're nothing of the sort.

Send me any and all copies of Rescue Me at once. Remove all mention of me or my book Rescue Me from ALL Airleaf websites. You have 24 hours to do so or my attorney will be in touch with you inquiring as to why you haven't complied.

A copy of this email is being forwarded to Detective Buskirk of the Martinsville Police Department.

Sincerely,

Ken PullenRescue Me.

Remember—your book appearing on the Airleaf website will only give credibility to their company. You won’t receive any money, so any sales will go directly to Airleaf to help float their fraudulent boat.

One of our authors sent this note with a suggestion for us all to try:

Bonnie,I just put in a complaint to my bank against the debit card I used for my down payment with Airleaf. I even faxed them a copy of the BBB complaint I filed. VISA sponsors the card with Wachovia. I figured that maybe they could apply a little more heat to Mr. Lau and Airleaf, maybe even put them on a "Bad Provider" list. If you think this is a good idea, Email the others and have them do it.Regards,Bob Cheney

One of our authors, Floriana Hall, sent this nice link that you can use to help give you some publicity.